


Professor Layton and the Empty Sky

by CuriousVillager



Series: Two Gentlemen In Love [4]
Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Adult Luke Triton, Age Difference, Aged-Up Character(s), Case Fic, Developing Relationship, M/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-14 15:09:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10538991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuriousVillager/pseuds/CuriousVillager
Summary: A small town has gone completely dark; the sun, moon, and stars seem to have disappeared from the sky above it. In such an unusual predicament, they turn to renown mystery solvers, Hershel Layton and Luke Triton. It's their first case as a couple, which makes for a different dynamic than they are used to. As they gather information and clues about the town, they find that they still have much to learn about each other, as well.[A sequel to I've Never Felt So At Home; I recommend reading it first.][Temporarily on hiatus as I finish my university finals. It wasn't very good planning on my part to start a new fic so close to the end of the semester!]





	1. Chapter 1

Luke was awoken by the telephone ringing. It was nearly 6 a.m.; _too early to be getting a phone call,_ he thought blearily. Groaning, Luke rolled over in bed and buried his face against his husband’s back.

“Phone’s ringing,” he murmured into the fabric of his pajama shirt.

“Oh, so it is.” Hershel sounded half-asleep.

“It’s on _your_ nightstand.”

“Alright, alright.” Hershel sat up and reached over to pick up the telephone. “Hello, this is Hershel Layton,” he said, smothering a yawn. He did not speak again for nearly a full minute; Luke figured whoever it was on the telephone must have had a lot to say. “I see…” he said at last. “Thank you for contacting me, Mr. Brye. I look forward to meeting you in person in a day or two. Goodbye.”

“What was that about?” Luke asked, sitting up in bed. “That guy sure did talk your ear off.”

Hershel reached over to return the telephone to its cradle. “He had good reason to. That was Alexander Brye. He’s a friend of Emmy’s that she met along her travels; she gave him my name. It would seem his town has found itself in an unusual predicament.”

“…And you’re going to help?”

“Naturally!”

Luke’s face split into a grin. “Our first real case together as a couple! I don’t count those times we went to Scotland Yard to help Chelmey and Grosky out.”

“Are you sure you can make it?”

“Yeah! I have this weekend off, remember?”

“Indeed, though let’s hope this case can be solved within the weekend.”

“You had mentioned an ‘unusual predicament’?”

The two men wordlessly got up from their bed and headed to the kitchen and set about making breakfast. Having lived together for seven months, they had formed a morning routine early on.

“Mr. Brye lives in Nightfell, a small town in Northern Europe.” Hershel filled the kettle with water and put it on the stove to boil. “He said that, ordinarily, by this point in December, they would be experiencing days with only a few hours of daylight, due to the town being located north of the Arctic Circle. But this last week, there’s been no sunlight at all. The moon and stars have been absent from the sky, as well, rendering it completely dark.”

“Um, Hershel,” Luke said, reaching for two teacups from the cupboard. “Is Mr. Brye aware that you’re not exactly an astronomer?”

“He is,” he replied with a smile, “But I haven’t gotten to the really mysterious part yet.”

“Which is?”

“This all started happening the day that a certain woman moved to the town. She claims that _she_ is the one controlling the lack of light in the sky.”

Luke paused to consider this. “Like, with some kind magic? Does the town believe her?”

“Oh, no,” Hershel shook his head, “Brye sounded quite suspicious. But while the town as a whole isn’t superstitious, the people don’t know of any other possible cause. Knowing our reputation, he would like for us to investigate.”

They sat down at the kitchen table, waiting for their tea to steep.

“That _is_ a strange situation…” Luke said thoughtfully, “But what can we do? This sounds kind of… out of our expertise.”

“That’s never stopped us before, love.” Hershel grinned. “A destructive specter laying waste to a town… a masked gentleman with strange powers… a box infamous for killing those who open it… traveling to the future… So many of our cases together appeared supernatural, or even impossible, at the beginning and would often become even stranger as we dove further in, but, in the end, there was always a logical explanation to be found. I’m confident this case will be no different.”

“Well, as long as you think so…”

The kettle began to whistle; Hershel stood to pour their tea. As he passed by Luke, he leaned down to kiss his seated husband.

“When you and I are on the case, there’s nothing we can’t do.”

Luke smiled more confidently this time. “You’re right!” Scooting back his chair, Luke bolted from the table, back to their bedroom. “Let’s go get packed!”

“What about our tea?” Hershel called after him, smiling.

Luke was quick to return to the kitchen, grinning sheepishly. He took the proffered cup and sat back down at the table.

Taking a sip, he said, “Right after our tea, of course!”


	2. Chapter 2

The next afternoon, their flight landed in the city nearest Nightfell; only being four hours, it was quite pleasant. Traveling from the city to Nightfell proved to be more difficult, since not many cabs were willing to drive so far out of the city, and the ones who were willing to leave the city refused their fare when they heard Hershel and Luke’s desired destination. “No way I’m driving to that cursed town,” they were told four times before they finally hailed a cabbie who did not seem to mind, or even be aware of, Nightfell’s recently gained infamy.

“Ah, finally,” Luke muttered as they settled into the passenger seats of the cab. Shivering, he pulled the hood of his winter coat closer to his face, as the interior of the cab was not much warmer than the wintry outdoors. “Feels like Folsense all over again.”

“Indeed, all this talk of a ‘curse’ is not exactly comforting,” Hershel said under breath.

As the cab left the thriving city behind and entered the country side, the sky grew noticeably darker. Clouds converged from seemingly out of nowhere; if Hershel and Luke hadn’t known better, they would have assumed a heavy thunderstorm was brewing.

“Awful early to be getting dark,” the cabbie remarked, turning on the headlights. “By the afternoon, December days usually have at least a few hours of daylight left in ‘em.”

The ride was not very long, but by the time they arrived on the outskirts of the town, it was as dark as midnight outside the cab. From what they could see of it, the town was covered in a blanket of snow and appeared to be quite small and most of the buildings were made of wood; Hershel estimated the population to be around one thousand, at most. Parked in front of a dimly lit bus stop, they paid the cabbie before gathering their things: Hershel had his favorite, old trunk, and Luke carried the satchel that had served him through all his university years.

The passenger door of the cab had hardly closed before they were approached by a tall, thin man with a weak moustache; he was wringing his hands nervously. Though he couldn’t have been much older than thirty, his face was so drawn with worry and fatigue that, combined with his stooped posture and disheveled hair, he almost resembled an ailing old man.

“A-are you Professor Layton?” he said. His tone sounded as if he were trying to not get his hopes up.

“I am, indeed,” Hershel said with a warm smile, extending a hand for a handshake. “Mr. Brye, I presume-”

“Yes, yes, call me Alexander. Now come, we haven’t a moment to spare...” he interrupted himself to look over each of his shoulders, in either direction, “It’s not safe to be out, not safe at all. Come, come. My house is not far. I will tell you everything there.”

With that, he quickly turned and started walking down the gloomy street, obviously expecting Hershel and Luke to follow. They exchanged a confused look before catching up with Alexander.

“Er, I’m Luke Triton, Professor Layton’s husba-”

“This way!” Alexander took a sharp corner.

Luke looked disappointed that he hadn’t been allowed to finish his sentence – he was always so proud to introduce himself to people when he was with Hershel – but there did not seem time to begin his sentence again. Alexander was walking so fast that he did not look both ways before crossing the four-lane road that they soon came across. But as Hershel and Luke soon saw, there was no reason to check for cars: the road was completely deserted.

“My, that may be the least active I’ve seen a road be at half past three in the afternoon,” Hershel observed. He thought he could at least try to start a conversation, but Alexander did not seem to hear him.

“Alright, here we are,” he said, arriving at small house with a single window facing the street, its curtains shut tight. Alexander fumbled with his keyring, full of keys of varying shapes and colors. Meanwhile, Hershel took Luke’s hand in his; even in the low light of a nearby lamppost, they could see each other’s smiles, fortifying and comforting the other for whatever lay ahead.

Unlocking the front door, Alexander gestured for them to hurry inside before following them in. He quickly shut and locked the door behind them.


	3. An Update

Hey everyone! I know Monday has passed without a chapter update. I'm pretty stuck with Chapter 3. I don’t really have the mystery completely figured out yet, so writing about them beginning the investigation has been difficult. I probably shouldn’t have started publishing this fic until I was further along; I guess I assumed the plot would come easily to me. That being said, If anyone has any ideas for how the mystery could develop, let me know in the comments, or email me at sharah353@gmail.com! I want this story to fit the normal PL format: a seemingly bizarre mystery that ends up having a logical (and feelsy) resolution.

I will probably delete this “chapter” once I write the finish the actual Chapter 3, just so that my chapter count does not get messed up.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again, friends! I've decided to continue I've Never Felt So At Home with more a plot-centric fic, but there will still be plenty of relationship development, as well. I'm still planning the mystery and I'm not really sure where it's going to go. I'm going to try to make it as Laytonesque as I can: seeming somewhat supernatural at first and then turning out to have a logical explanation, while also tugging at heartstrings. If you have any ideas, do let me know! :)


End file.
